richard cottingham lodi, nj address

For more details, please read our Privacy & Cookie Policy. It was an era when the sex worker was criminalized. 43 0 obj<>stream The predator, dubbed The Torso Killer, would strike again in May 1980. 0000003707 00000 n Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. Which, of course, I wasnt overly interested in, the former chief said. He would approach them in bars, drug them with the date rape drug Tuinal, take them to a remote locationtypically a motelwhere he would bind, gag, torture, and stab them before killing them by strangling them with a ligature. It could only be Jackie Harp.. Cottingham primarily sought prostitutes who were petite blondes in their late teens to mid-twenties. Zestimate Home Value: $598,600. Mr. Anzilotti, by then a sergeant, arranged a surprise search of the inmates cell the day after the Super Bowl. In a candid interview, the Bergen County chief who spent 20 years trying to wrangle new confessions out of serial killer Richard Cottingham revealed the 74-year-old prisoner has "regrets". Denise Falasca, 15, of Closter, New Jersey. He then left the scene with their severed heads and hands. God rest their souls," Bergen County Prosecutor's Chief of Detective Robert Anzilotti said Tuesday after Richard Cottingham of Lodi admitted killing both in 1974. . He then drowned them in a bathtub, he said, and dumped their bodies in the woods in a wooded area behind Rolling Ridge Road in Montvale. %PDF-1.4 % Richard Cottingham seemed like a character from a pulp novel: the crazed killer and the family man. In 1948, Cottingham's family moved to Dumont, New Jersey, and in 1956 to River Vale, New Jersey, where he began his fascination with bondage pornography. Neither man has claimed to have been aware of the other, nor is there any evidence they were familiar with each other prior to their respective arrests. I had long suspected that whoever killed Irene Blase also killed Denise Falasca, Mr. Anzilotti said. The little perks for the older man the pizza, the poker, the distraction from prison life were always in the service of the younger mans long game. 0000001425 00000 n Jacalyn "Jackie" Harp, aged 13, was randomly ambushed as she walked home in the evening of July 17, 1968, from school band practice in Midland Park and strangled with the leather strap of her bag. If they came forward and said theyd been assaulted, they would be arrested for prostitution, so there was no reason to come forward, Berlinger said. And any new prison sentence would, practically speaking, be meaningless; Mr. Cottingham had no chance of ever being released. [15] In December 2022, Cottingham was convicted of Diane Cusick's 1968 murder and, under a non-prosecution agreement, officially admitted to killing another four women during 19721973 in Long Island, New York: Mary Beth Heinz, Laverne Moye, Sheila Heiman, and Maria Emerita Rosado Nieves. He described things only the killer would know, like where hed thrown her car keys afterward. Justice was served and thats the end of it case closed. Blase was found strangled to death in 4 feet of water in Saddle River the next day. The back and forth went on for weeks. [3], Richard Francis Cottingham was born on November 25, 1946, in the Mott Haven neighborhood of the Bronx in New York City, the first of four children. This is a "Then and Now" photograph of Cottingham's former house at 29 Vreeland Street. The sergeant was undeterred. On more than one occasion, he would openly talk about his experiences with sex workers. His murders were not the outcome of stalking or planning but of fleeting encounters. But it was a way to get him comfortable to talk to me about murders.. The Google Street View image on the right was taken 38 years later, in June of 2018. Ive never seen rain like that, he said. On April 14, in a recorded interview, Mr. Cottingham said he remembered Mary Ann Pryor and Lorraine Kelly, and Mr. Anzilotti asked why he knew their names, when he hadnt in past cases. In August 2022, with a non-prosecution agreement, officials in Rockland County, New York, corroborated and accepted Cottingham's confession to the murder of 26-year-old Lorraine McGraw, who was beaten and killed March 1, 1970. Richard Cottingham pleaded guilty to murder in the death of one Long Island woman and admitted under oath to killing four others. With Cottinghams next victim, a killers hunting ground of sorts began to form. Cottingham was convicted of five murders and numerous counts of kidnapping and sexual assault and sentenced to 173 to 197 years, which he is serving in Trenton's New Jersey State Prison. It is situated at 29 Vreeland Street in Lodi, New Jersey. 0000006151 00000 n Years after her sisters death, she had found some comfort speaking to another from her tribe, Karen Miller, a sister of Denise Falasca. Berlinger said well never truly know how many women died at Cottinghams hands, but his story had long fascinated the director, who sees a social justice component aspect to telling his story. Cottingham offered to give O'Dell a massage and she rolled onto her stomach. The New York Times, p. 2. The police hunted for leads, questioning prostitutes about suspicious men, examining the handwriting of the guest who had checked into Room 417: Carl Wilson of Merlin, N.J., a fake name from a fake place. Starting in 2014, Cottingham confidentially admitted to Detective Robert Anzilotti of the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office (BCPO) to being the perpetrator of the murders of three teenage females between 1968 and 1969. He also claimed to have committed 80 perfect murders no one knows about. Harp was found strangled to death the next day. She later testified that he said, "You have to take it. Shed been abducted by Cottingham from the Ledgewood Terrace apartments, in Little Ferry, where Cottingham had previously lived, said Vronsky. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Advance Local. A judge sentenced him to 25 years to life after Cusicks brother and only child read emotional impact statements in court. Authorities executed a warrant on his Lodi home, which had a private room containing evidence linking him to the Torso Killer. For more information, please read our Privacy & Cookie Policy. Richard Cottingham, 74, pleaded guilty Tuesday to murdering Mary Ann Pryor, 17, and Lorraine Marie Kelly, 16, both of North Bergen. She was believed to have accepted a ride from a stranger, and her body was found on the side of a road near a cemetery. He did not know the names of those he killed. [13][14] Anzilotti had spent 15 years interviewing Cottingham, working toward the confession. 0000009992 00000 n Photos of the house and other related images. Cottingham was apprehended in the hallway by arriving police officers. It was just shock all the way around.. Cottingham's confirmed killings resulted in nine convictions and a further eight confessions under non-prosecution agreements, leading to him serving multiple life sentences in New Jersey prisons. In 2000, as a young detective in the Bergen County prosecutors office, Robert Anzilotti was tasked with looking into the murders, along with a few other similar cold cases from the 1960s and 1970s. He drove his car ahead of Harp, pulled over and walked back toward her, Vronsky said. I just ruled him out. Which is entirely possible, especially in those days.. Hed been a married father of three, but the Lodi resident - who would brutalize his victims bodies, cutting off limbs, heads and breasts - would later become known as the Torso Killer" for what he left behind. He married in 1970 and became a father of. 0000000991 00000 n That was less than a year after Cottingham and his wife had their first child. The house is close to Lodi High School, the Riverside Cemetery and Interstate 80. The year 2020 arrived, and running his office through the coronavirus outbreak kept Mr. Anzilotti too busy for cold cases. 29 Vreeland St, Lodi, NJ is a single family home that contains 2,716 sq ft and was built in 1974. Ms. His additional confession to a 1974 murder was discounted by Rockland County police. In April of 1979, he started living in the basement of the property after his wife initiated divorce proceedings against him for "abandonment" and "mental cruelty.". But he carried those cold cases with him literally, his thick files in cardboard boxes that he moved from office to office chipping away at the false leads, seeking similarities in the victims and in the crime scenes. Since his incarceration, he has attempted suicide on two occasions. He had come further in closing cases than his younger self could have imagined. 43 0 obj <>stream The bodies of the women had no heads and no hands. YouTubes privacy policy is available here and YouTubes terms of service is available here. The man has no heart, no soul, no emotion whatsoever, she said. Its his fault this is out.. 0000002435 00000 n 0000000016 00000 n They found an 18-year-old victim who'd been bitten and stabbed bound with handcuffs. In 2022, Cottingham also confessed to the 1968 murder of Diane Cusick after DNA evidence linked him to the crime. This girl did everything right, Vronsky said. When reporters ran with the story, Mr. Anzilotti considered himself absolved from keeping his silence about the cases. Mr. Anzilotti had begun to believe, he said in a recent interview, that Mr. Cottingham, between his history and the suspicions of detectives that came before me, could be responsible for one or more of those deaths. I was shocked that it was a serial killer, Moye said of his mothers confessed murderer. It is my fervent hope that this arrest and conviction bring some semblance of closure to the friends and family of Mary Ann and Lorraine and a measure of justice to members of our communities, who have long feared this unknown actor.. I believe hes killed between 85 and 100, as he claims, Vronsky told The Post. James McMorrow, Cottingham confessed last year to three other cold-case slayings of teenage school girls in Bergen County: Jacalyn (Jackie) Harp, 13, of Midland Park, who was walking home from school band practice on July 17, 1968 when she was strangled with the leather strap of her flag sling; Irene Blase, 18, of Bogota, who went missing from Hackensack on April 7, 1969 and was found strangled in Saddle River; Denise Falasca, 15, of Closter, who went missing from Westwood on July 14, 1969. The murder remained unsolved until Cottingham confessed and entered a guilty plea in August 2010. To this day, the other young female has never been identified. H|U0+(QvG`b08NbHlSoZ2CRSs=* \e~ Hackensack, The police photograph on the left was taken in June of 1980. On the way out, he bumped the author on the shins with a bag that felt like it contained bowling balls, Vronsky said. Inmates were wagering everything from cash to cigarettes. One day in 2014, the chief and a partner were driving the inmate back to prison when, from the back seat, Mr. Cottingham, who by then had spent almost half of his 68 years in prison, began describing a girl he once spotted near a store in Hackensack. Cottingham was indicted in Cusicks killing in June after DNA evidence linked him to the cold-case slaying believed to be the oldest match to ever lead to a prosecution, Nassau County prosecutors said. So we just stayed in the car and we kept talking to each other, getting to know each other and so forth., If the rain wasnt there, they would have just went to the mall and that would have been it, he said, And I would have went to work.. Cottingham committed his first known murder when he was 20-years-old, although he claims to have started as an adolescent. Getting to that point wasnt easy, Anzilotti said. 0000002865 00000 n All these factors created this crucible in the center of Manhattan for Richard Cottingham to flourish.. Responding officers found an 18-year-old victim whod been bitten, stabbed and bound with handcuffs. 0000006081 00000 n Moye, who traveled from Georgia to see Cottingham confess to killing his mother and four other women as part of a plea deal, said he leaned heavily on his Catholic faith as the unrepentant killer watched via video feed from South Woods State Prison in New Jersey, where hes serving multiple life sentences. I could feel it.. Her glasses, a ring, a necklace, Ms. Mulder said. Cottingham has been given various nicknames over the years. Once, he outright explained his hesitation: He said, I know once I give you that case, Ill never see you again, Mr. Anzilotti recalled last month. Premiering on Dec. 29, the three-part season explores the case of Richard Cottingham, a New Jersey man who was dubbed "The Torso Killer" and found guilty of killing 11 women between 1967 and 1980. Her breasts had been severed and torso had been set on fire, Vronsky said. Once again, the victim did not appear in further proceedings and the case was dismissed.[6]. Instead, she ended up shopping at one of Bergen Countys malls, according to Vronsky. Twenty years later, he was reinvestigating several cold cases involving girls and young women who had been abducted, sexually abused and killed. He was eventually convicted of five murders in New Jersey and New York and sent to a New Jersey state prison in the early 1980s. [2] Four surviving abduction-rape victims testified against Cottingham; he was convicted in three of the cases and acquitted in one. But he eventually realized the years-long association, which involved countless state prison visits, was coming to an end. 0000001968 00000 n Furthermore, one of the women that he murdered in 1979 is still unidentified. In the thirteen-year period during which he is known to have committed at least seventeen murders, only one fingerprint belonging to him was ever recovered, from the ratchet mechanism of handcuffs left behind on Valerie Street. Her body was found the next morning by the side of a road next to a cemetery in Saddle Brook. In 1964, Cottingham graduated from Pascack Valley High School in Hillsdale, New Jersey. Its mind-boggling and very scary, especially to know theres more of them out there.. His wife withdrew the petition upon his arrest in May 1980, then completed the divorce after his 1981 conviction. Cusicks daughter, Darlene Altman, told Nassau County Judge Caryn Fink her late grandparents raised her after her mothers shocking slaying. Everything that I was taught about evil was evident in his presence, in his demeanor, in the gaze of his eyes, Moye told The Post. The five victims addressed . South Hackensack, Richard Cottingham, Lorraine Kelly, Mary Ann Pryor, Bergen County Prosecutor's Chief of Detectives Robert Anzilotti, Ecuadorian National Pleads Guilty To Brutal Stabbing Death Of Popular Bergen County Chef, Franklin Lakes Driver Indicted In Teaneck T-Bone Crash That Kil, Paterson Non-Violence Activist Shot Dead In Police Standoff Was, Man Killed By Amtrak Train In Central Jersey Was Family Breadwi, WATCH: YouTube Video Shows Rapper Assaulting Bergen Shop Rite W, Motel Guest Covered In Lotion Rescued From Knife-Wielding Woman, DWI Suspected In Horrific Route 80 Crash In Bergen County. Stumped, the police used mannequins from nearby department stores and dressed them in the victims clothing, hoping to spark an identification from friends or family who recognized the outfits. Hours later, her parents drove to the mall and found Dianes Plymouth Valiant in the parking lot, where her body was discovered in the backseat. Cottingham was not charged with this murder until June 2022, when he was implicated by DNA.[10]. Hearing prosecutors detail grisly crime scenes like where Laverne was found was especially difficult to endure, her son said. Richard Francis Cottingham was born on November 25, 1946, in the Mott Haven neighborhood of the Bronx in New York City, the first of four children. Vogel was found dead in her own car in Ridgefield Park, nude and bound. And even though Harp ran, Cottingham soon overtook her and dragged her into a grouping of bushes where teens would often go to smoke and make out, he said. He admitted that those two killings weighed on him more than the others. Blase was 18 when she was found strangled in Saddle River in 1969. [13] In 2021, he pleaded guilty to the 1974 kidnapping, raping and drowning of Lorraine Marie Kelly and Mary Ann Pryor. The chief pressed ahead with his list. 0000002882 00000 n They captured Cottingham soon after. On Tuesday, Richard Cottingham, 74, sat in a wheelchair in beige prison scrubs as he pleaded guilty to kidnapping the teenage girls and raping them for days before he drowned them in a motel room bathtub. Maywood, How it ended was me literally shaking his hand and saying, Thank you, Mr. Anzilotti said. The New York Times, p. 26. Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Hed order pizza and play cards with the older man and other detectives. The photographs are ordered from left to right and top to bottom. He said he wouldn't have done it if I wasn't retiring.. He began torturing her, nearly biting off one of her nipples. 0000012661 00000 n They were facedown, side by side, as if placed there with care. Note that there seems to have been a "lull" between 1970 and 1973. I just kind of looked at it and touched it and put it in a box where I had some dried flowers for my mother when she passed.. 0000001001 00000 n Both men were keenly aware that it was their years-old relationship that had brought about this moment. Over the course of 13 years, beginning in 1967, Cottingham killed six women in New Jersey and New York. But Cottingham flew under the radar precisely because of how he chose his victims and who his victims were. xb```"VV~g`0pt 9mzQ[2fXar9XcK',6=3Yb%^)= RZlr$:kX;e =_i& ` ?# For over 40 years, its been folklore in this county.. Moye, 55, stared down serial murderer and rapist Richard Cottingham in a Nassau County courtroom Monday as the 76-year-old notorious "Torso Killer" admitted to five more sadistic slayings. Feech La Manna's house from The Sopranos. Cusick, an instructor at a dance school in the Oceanside community of Long Island, went to Green Acres Mall in Valley Stream to buy a pair of shoes. Math-wise its possible," said Vronsky. You're a whore and you have to be punished." At the mall, Cottingham, then a tall, brown-haired young man, met Vogel, a married mother of two. Over the months that followed, Mr. Anzilotti cultivated an unusual relationship with Mr. Cottingham, sometimes testy, sometimes closer to a sort of warmth. 0000007874 00000 n [6] At Blue Cross, Cottingham worked in an office with Rodney Alcala, the fugitive child molester and future serial killer who lived in New York under the alias "John Berger".

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